Bible Strands
Isaiah 1:17
Learn to do right; seek justice and correct the oppressor. Defend the fatherless and plead the case of the widow.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — YHWH addresses Judah at the pivot between a command to stop doing evil (v. 16) and an invitation to reconciliation (v. 18). The audience is the nation, not an individual.
The words — לִמְדוּ (limdu, "learn") frames the entire verse as habit-formation rather than a single act; אַשְׁר֣וּ ('ashru, "set right," H833) is a physical straightening verb applied here to a person—the oppressor.
The thread — Micah 6:8 distills the same demand to "act justly"; Jeremiah 22:3 commands the king to "rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor"; Psalms 82:3 echoes "defend the cause of the weak and fatherless."
Why it lands — It asks the reader to intervene concretely on behalf of those with no advocate and to confront the one causing harm, not merely to feel sympathy.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Learn to do well; seek judgment, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
Cross-references
- Micah 6:8 He has shown you, O man, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you but to act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
- Jeremiah 22:3 This is what the LORD says: Administer justice and righteousness. Rescue the victim of robbery from the hand of his oppressor. Do no wrong or violence to the foreigner, the fatherless, or the widow. Do not shed innocent blood in this place.
- Psalms 82:3 Defend the cause of the weak and fatherless; uphold the rights of the afflicted and oppressed.
- Proverbs 31:9 Open your mouth, judge righteously, and defend the cause of the poor and needy.
- Isaiah 1:23 Your rulers are rebels, friends of thieves. They all love bribes and chasing after rewards. They do not defend the fatherless, and the plea of the widow never comes before them.
- Zechariah 7:9 “This is what the LORD of Hosts says: ‘Administer true justice. Show loving devotion and compassion to one another.
- Jeremiah 22:15 Does it make you a king to excel in cedar? Did not your father have food and drink? He administered justice and righteousness, and so it went well with him.
- Daniel 4:27 Therefore, may my advice be pleasing to you, O king. Break away from your sins by doing what is right, and from your iniquities by showing mercy to the oppressed. Perhaps there will be an extension of your prosperity.”
- Zechariah 8:16 These are the things you must do: Speak truth to one another, render true and sound judgments in your gates,
- Zephaniah 2:3 Seek the LORD, all you humble of the earth who carry out His justice. Seek righteousness; seek humility. Perhaps you will be sheltered on the day of the LORD’s anger.